A butterfly valve, which is arranged upstream of an intake manifold and adjusts the flow rate of the air which is fed to the cylinders, is included in internal combustion engines. A typical currently marketed butterfly valve features a valve body provided with a tubular feeding pipe through which the air taken in by the internal combustion engine flows; a butterfly plate, which is keyed onto a rotating shaft to rotate between an opening position and a closing position of the feeding pipe, is accommodated inside the feeding pipe. The rotation of the butterfly plate is controlled by an actuator device normally including a direct current electric motor coupled to the rotating shaft of the butterfly plate by means of a gear transmission and at least one spring that pushes the rotating shaft of the butterfly plate towards the closing position.
A position sensor, which is adapted to detect the angular position of the rotating shaft (i.e. the butterfly plate), is coupled to the rotating shaft bearing the butterfly plate; in modern butterfly valves the position sensor is of the contact-less type, i.e. it includes a rotor integral with the rotating shaft and a stator, which is arranged in a fixed position, faces the rotor and is electromagnetically coupled to the rotor.
The butterfly valve is controlled by an electronic control unit, which is integrated in a PCB (Printed Circuit Board) and controls in feedback the angular position of the butterfly plate by using the signal provided by the position sensor. In particular, the electronic control unit is provided with an electric drive which adjusts the average voltage applied to the electric motor by means of the PWM (Pulse Width Modulation) technique which involves the application of a variable electric voltage having a square waveform to the clamps of the electric motor, and the adjustment of the average value of the voltage by varying the amplitude of the single square voltage pulses. In order to be able to apply both a positive voltage and a negative voltage (required to obtain high precision and speed in the handling of the butterfly plate) to the clamps of the electric motor, the electric drive typically includes an H-bridge or another equivalent electronic circuit that allows the inversion of the output voltage. A capacitor is connected upstream of the H-bridge, the capacitor serving to uniform the voltage absorbed by the electric drive and to allow the circulation of electric current absorbed by the electric motor when a negative voltage is applied to the clamps of the electric motor; indeed, the electronic circuit of the electronic control unit arranged upstream of the H-bridge normally only allows the one-directional circulation of the electric current towards the H-bridge.
In a statistical analysis of the failures that occur in an internal combustion engine, it has been noted that the failure of the capacitor—in particular the dielectric of the capacitor wears through—arranged upstream of the H-bridge of the electric drive controlling the electric motor of the butterfly valve, is relatively frequent. The failure of the capacitor arranged upstream of the H-bridge of the electric drive that controls the electric motor of the butterfly valve is not too detrimental for the butterfly valve, as the control in feedback of the butterfly valve is in any case capable of operating even with deteriorated performances. On the other hand, the failure of the capacitor arranged upstream of the H-bridge of the electric drive is extremely detrimental when the electronic control unit itself also controls the fuel injectors; indeed, the voltage oscillations determined by the lack of the stabilising action by the capacitor rapidly cause the failure of the fuel injectors with a subsequent breakdown of the vehicle and very high repair costs.
The only solution that has currently been suggested to avoid the failure of the capacitor arranged upstream of the H-bridge of the electric drive controlling the electric motor of the butterfly valve is to greatly oversize the capacitor itself; however, such a solution implies very high costs and sizes.